European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič has warned that the entire Brexit deal between the UK and the EU could fail if Britain decides to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol. In separate negotiations, he called on Swiss officials to demonstrate “political commitment” to talks with the bloc to ensure that relations remain positive.

Northern Irish Conservative Aaron Rankin suggested that the EU stop blaming others for bargaining errors and instead focus on considering the effects of their own actions.

In a post on Twitter, he wrote: “The EU says it will end relations with the UK if the UK exercises its rights under a mutually agreed treaty.

“It also means that relations with Switzerland could collapse if it does not submit to the Brussels laws.

“Has the EU noticed that they may be the problem?”

In his recent threat to the UK, Mr Šefčovič warned that “without the protocol, the system will collapse”.

Quoted in POLITICO, he said warnings from the UK government that this could trigger Article 16 are “an enormously disruptive element in the negotiations”.

Triggering Article 16 would allow parts of the Protocol to be ignored if they had a serious impact on daily life.

The Vice-President of the Commission added: “You are trying to achieve something together and – boom – Article 16 is threatened again.

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But Mr Šefčovič insisted: “Without the protocol, the system will collapse.

“We have to prevent that at all costs.”

Separately, Mr Šefčovič said it was up to Switzerland, not the EU, to show interest in a discussion on updating the agreements between the two sides.

He suggested that Switzerland should not be punished with “negative measures” if the talks were not started.

But he insisted that relations would likely take a downturn.

The Slovak politician said on a number of issues: “First of all, we needed a political commitment from the Swiss government that they are serious about speaking to us”.